William Perrin TAL

alt.local.tv - updatedWhat if you started with the internet, not TV?

(work in progress 9 June) Post IFNC rework of slides originally presented to

OFCOM ‘Future of Local Media’Salford Innovation Forum22 September 2009

William PerrinTalk About Local Ltdhttp://talkaboutlocal.org

Is unwell

‘There is a clear threat to continued provision of an alternative regional TV news service to the BBC’OFCOM

The surplus generated by premium advertising was sufficient to allow the implicit subsidy of public or social goods..... But that subsidy is no longer available. Digital Britain report

Bob maxwellCitizen kane‘we need strong local media to nurture a sense of local identity and hold locally-elected politicians to account’Jeremy Hunt 8 June 2010

‘The priority for the Government is to focus on what is essential, and for most people it is news. ‘DCMS news con doc 2009

There are dozens of volunteer local websites across the UK providing good unbiased news as trustworthy as local papers and holding local politicians to account

‘Local websites of all shapes and sizes are providing community news and information to hundreds of thousands of people.....grass roots media can provide an accurate, reliable, popular sources of news and information without regulation or subsidy. Their news values and thresholds are new, reflecting grass roots interests and priorities.’Digital Britain report

Traditional media leaders are coming around to the vision of local sites improving neighbourhoods and holding politicians to account:

Alan Rusbridger, Cudlipp Lecture:‘Depending on your point of view, you may find that vision of new ways of connecting and informing communities inspiring or terrifying. I think it is both – but it is a useful starting point to thinking about the value of journalism, in every sense of the word 'value'. And it is good to be forced to think at an even more basic level – about what journalism is and who can do it.’

Tough to get public service TV costs down

• Legacy cost bases– Pensions– Unionised work force– Legal and process

– Legacy methods of production– 50yo technology– Expensive hardware– Production values fetish

• Regulation based on media monopoly model

• BBC sets high floor

Leads to (unfair) Internet perception of traditional public service TV budgets

IFNC process was step in right direction(declaration – I was a judge on the panel)Subsidy offered and regulation of content held constant Winners innovated in that frameworkNo radical cost savings offered that could meet regulation

Q - Why did we have to offer huge subsidy to achieve innovation?A – We were starting with TV as it is now and not changing news regulation

Dogme manifestoClerks

You can innovate, reduce cost, increase quality even on analogue technologiesDogme 95Clerks•New entrants•low budget •high quality •back to basics

Breaking The Waves – Lars Von Trier

Clerks – Kevin Smith

Truth and accuracyWe strive to be accurate and establish the truth of what has happened. Accuracy is more important than speed and it is often more than a question of getting the facts right. We will weigh all relevant facts and information to get at the truth. Our output will be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language. We will be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation.

Serving the public interestWe seek to report stories of significance. We will be vigorous in driving to the heart of the story and well informed when explaining it. Our specialist expertise will bring authority and analysis to the complex world in which we live. We will ask searching questions of those who hold public office and provide a comprehensive forum for public debate.

Impartiality & diversity of opinionWe strive to be fair and open minded and reflect all significant strands of opinion by exploring the range and conflict of views. We will be objective and even handed in our approach to a subject. We will provide professional judgments where appropriate, but we will never promote a particular view on controversial matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy

Public service news values are an editorial, cultural and business decision, not magic

Can we bring these values to video and other news on the web?

News values

Local Public Service News Manifesto

• Fair• Truthful• Proportionate• Provocative• Playful• Local• Low cost• Not boring• Not evil

Local public service internet news• Person from local social media

scene as ‘controller’ - £35k • Controller commissions one news

video a day, say £150 – have to pay for news

• Curate other video, audio and text content with community

• Web costs minimal – £50 month• <£100,000 all in• Two orders of magnitude less than

local TV (Ofcom - £40-£60m) • RhubarbRadio and MonTV similar• Grouping forming in West Midlands• Happy to talk IFNC

@bounder @hadleypaul @evansrob @chrisunitt @mike_rawlins

http://localme.org.uk/static- This was a demo for Salford 2009 speech we are getting it back online check the url to see if it is there...

Commissioned daily news YouTube or bliptv embed

Other local news from community YouTube of

submitted

Feature daily best human interest or arts

Public service ads – not overly commercial to keep

community feel

http://localme.org.uk/static

Integrated feed from 14 hyperlocal blogs

‘informing’

Feed from Help Me investigate

‘campaigning and interrogating’

Daily feature best local content

‘informing’

http://localme.org.uk/static

Ultra local sport – an under served market

Twitter feed from local event streamed for cash

‘informing’

Loose copyright – attribution only

William Perrin TAL

We help people across the UK create simple, modern, low cost community websitesFunded by 4IP, Screen West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands

If you want a session in your area drop us a line – info@talkaboutlocal.org